a guideline for members to consider before posting a discussion.
Your bio should include (at least)
*The area in which you live.
*The instrument(s) you play.
*One other statement about yourself.
Perhaps this might help prevent misunderstandings and suspicion when totally unknown individuals make statements or ask questions. I have noted both happening recently.
I'd like to add a further proposal if I may (sorry for the hijack, oldstrings!)
Before you criticise someone on this site for having a particular character trait, look deep in to your soul and ask yourself whether just possibly you might display that self same trait yourself some times...?
Personally, I think we should each be required to hook an electrode up to a particularly sensitive body part each time we log on to this site. Then Jeremy would have the ultimate say over civility, and instant recourse whenever someone steps out of bounds.
Amen to all of the above. The bios on this site make for interesting reading, to be sure. Here's what drives me nuts, on the topic of civility-
A newcomer to the site, happy to find the Mustard, logs on and asks a question with the energy of a newbie...and is told by several posters to...
-do a search before asking a question, you fecking idjit!
-oh, no, not that question again!
-I hate bodhrans...
-I remember back in 1982 hearing-----play at------yadayadablablablabla etc.
I really like the electrode idea, CPT! But now I am dangerously close to violating my third rule, found on my bio, so I think I'll pour another glass of wine and resume lurking.
Come on Puddy Tat. You're setting yourself up for scrutiny there ag...........ghhhhhhhh.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... whoops forgot to look in on my own soul again Eno... smoulder............... oh well, I didnt need that reproductive organ anyway...
Let's take care of ourselves, rather than "should"-ing others about matters which are none of our business. The rules established by the site overseer for individual choice as to bios, personal data and other issues are there for a reason, and they seem to work very well.
I agree that civility should be the code - but it is all too easy for the little devil on your shoulder to whisper in your ear.......and off you go on a rant. Maybe Jeremy could apply a spam filter to help all of us with this weakness. Any threads containing 'Braveheart', 'Titanic' etc could be diverted to a new site called 'the-session-lite' ......and lead us not into temptation.
(This has been discussed before, but there's no harm in going round it again.
So often someone asks a question which could be answered so much more helpfully if people did as Oldstrings suggests.
1 - Where you live
(no need for detailed addresses)
People come on and ask "Where can I get help with ......." and the answer might be that I can help them if they live near me. But if they don't give any clues, how can I even know whether I can help?
2 - What you play
Of course.
When you are at a real session, folks can see what you play - it seems bizarre not to tell folks at a virtual session such as this.
3 - Something about yourself
Again, in a face to face conversation people know things about you because they can see you, and will behave differently with different individuals according to what they see. If you don't give a little about yourself in your bio, you are being discourteous to those to whom you are speaking.
PS - What? this old question again, why don't you people do a search before you ask? Look, we all hate bodhrans, I remember Mick McManus saying so when I saw him play in 1976 at . . . . . . .
the most sensitive part of the body is .........The Eye!
True.
Anyway, I would further propose that people give at least a rough idea of their age bracket - particularly younger members. It's not the first time I have made some sarcastic remark to someone only to find out later they were 11 and a half years old or something. Big bully and plonker.
Also gender - but can understand why some people may not wish to divulge this.
Agreed, I've just done that myself. Looking at Bill Campbell's 'Where to Start' thread I realized that without knowing the age of someone looking for advice it is not easy to comment. Giving pointers to a 14 year old is completely different to a 40 year old for example.
Why not explain these details in the question eg "I'm a banjo player from Kilmore Rd. 33 years old I'm Playing six months and I would like to know......................"
Duke's Reel was a requested tune by person.
Is this the one? http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/5519
Please if you want people's history start reviewing their requests for tunes. You know ~ the exchange of tunes!
I'm sure technology exists for the electrode zapping that would occur should Jeremy deem comments too vulgar or hurtful. However, I fear I might be one of the first to beg "Don't taze me bro..!"
So, if we want civility from Key all we have to do is keep telling him we're 11 years old? Jeez, I wish I'd known that when I first stumbled onto this site. Hey key, I'm 11 years old...
I've thought long on this, to the bottom of this thread where I'm not typing away, and I can't think of where I'd necessarily talk down to someone because of their age, or up because they claim to be THE ONE of whatever. Civility has to be something given generally, and while I have slipped on my own snot, and will again I'm sure, I can't see standardization of the 'details' of members would change my approach to things. If I screw up, well, I put my hair shirt on and try and make restitution, if it is really called for.
Hey, would this mean we'd have to start treating foreigners differently? Damn! Pardon my French...
Excellent Jusa Nutter! "Group Sex" was my favorite album of theirs. I think I still have the 12' vinyl somewhere. 30 something songs, the entire LP clocked it at under 20 minutes, I think. Ah yes, ye olde Punk Rock days...
Another quote for your bio?
"This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever."
ceolachan you cannot just pretend to be 11 years old.
you have to change your user name too.
Duh!
OUUChChCh**ght!
Hmmm ~ not as bad as I thought.
Name , rank, & serial #
It's in the prisoner's rights statue or something.
ouch ~ ouch . . .
Keeeyyy stooppittt
Ceolachan, I agree you shouldn't change your approach with how you respond if it is helpful, or even a stern rebuke when warranted. The very first post I put up, was summarily ripped by Bodhran Bliss. And frankly who hasn't been E-slapped by Llig?
Yet most of the time I learn something from it. Even if it is served with a large chunk of Humble Pie on a sharp shingle.
It would be nice if everyone could be polite & introspective.
I have a love/hate relationship with all the distractions.
If you meet a stranger in a pub you might talk for hours & never get oldstrings details. There are mysteries for sure. But you can have a good discussion with a stranger. I crave that social interaction without protocol.
Misunderstanding will happen. It matters more what we do after we stumble. I propose everyone write your bios without preconditions. We can get to know you better with just a hint of mystery.
I agree absolutely with the original posting.
You don't have to be precise, just regional, in your self-description, and colourful embroidery of the truth adds interest, trying to figure out the sense and the nonsense.
I welcome any readers of my biog.
Which reminds me, someone asked me a question a few days ago and I haven't replied yet.
I'm an 11 yearold cross-dressing androgyne. Seamus Tansey saves a special seat of honor for me at his pub sessions. I've played river rock percussion in West Ballifeckit for 41 years, and you can buy my tutorial DVD at http://www.bangyourrockstogether.com.
Yeah, that's the problem... You're assuming that everyone would be honest in their profile. That's a bad assumption, methinks.
Part of the issue is that people often have a sense of anonymity in online communities. This allows them to appear as something that they're not. Lke, I dunno... an expert on Irish music, for instance. I probably come across like that from time to time myself, although, I generally try to couch my answers as being my own opinion... My profile is honest, and at least somewhat informative. But then you get into the issues of privacy in this world that is full of sickos, who might just be lurking...
Then there's the witness protection act. I've got fiberglass shoed hit folk out lookin' to flatten my nose. I have to keep anonymous or risk scuff marks and bruises all over my body, far worse than cowboys and spurs... Besides, someone might see me in my Wild Bill outfit, or wearing my Daniel Boon coon skin cap and deer skins... Then I'd also have to worry about the granola bars on site, who, I might say, haven't yet confessed by adding that information into their 'details'. I think if we're going to be detailed then food preferences should be listed ~ ~ ~ and drink... It this not more important than geography or genetics?
I'd be more worried about what I was saying in the presence of say a 'granola bar', worried about hurting someone's feelings unintentionally, or someone in the National Front, worried for my own health than anything ageist...
That quote posted above about the Irish being 'immune' to the probing powers of psychoanalysis is wrongly attributed to Freud. I believe it was Jung who supposedly came out with that, possibly as a result of his conversations with James Joyce and his schizophrenic daughter. Even then, it was probably an affectionate, roundabout way that Jung had of paying a compliment to Joyce himself and his powers of invention and understanging of mythological archetypes, rather than a real assessment of the Irish in general. By encouraging them to believe that they are somehow marvellous, magical Celts, it strikes me as precisely the sort of comment that is likely to encourage certain sections of Irish society to persist in narcissistic delusions rather than grow to a painful recognition of themselves in all their flawed reality.
Whew. Well, as the Irish are so good at beating themselves up as well as completely trashing any of their number who dare to be flashy or show any ego whatsoever, I think a little self-importance is a good thing.
I mean, have you ever seen such self-loathing? We hate anyone who dares to be different, or to excel. What's the most important thing about growing up Irish-American?
"DON'T GET A BIG HEAD, ya jerk! What makes you think you're so special?"
Tonya:
Certainly, meeting someone in person is far different from any kind of correspondence.
As Key Maniac Lad said, it was only a suggestion, perhaps applicable to this site.
Remember also: 1 picture = 1,000 words.
Damned oroboros... Thanks for the reminder ol'string, that picture always gives me hope, that despite the belly beer grows we can still aspire to great sweat... And, it's OK to be blad... Isn't it?
By the way, I love your details, choosing to ignore punctuation and reading this bit so ~
" ~ and my Irish Water Spaniel named Guinness who was deeply involved in the British Folksong Revival (the 60's/70's one) before discovering dance tunes..."
What's the self-loathing you refer to , SWFL? Surely that remark is not linked to my comment above? I take a great, sustaining pride and joy out of my country, my compatriots past and present, and have always chuckled fondly at that Jung comment. But as classic victims of colonialism it strikes me that we Irish have never truly adjusted or recovered from the experience. Sure, we're getting there, but we have a distance to travel yet. The awful self-denigrating, sick self-image that many Irish people had of themselves right up till the 1970s seems to me to be increasingly replaced by an inflated and dubious new image that his little to do with Irish peoples current circumstances and a whole lot to do with marketing imperatives. I honestly believe that Ireland as a whole has largely moved out of the shadow of colonialism. The current low-point in the Troubles in the north is edifying evidence of that. But we are a long way from being pronounced completely cured. During the hardest times of Irish history over the last fifty odd years there was always a temptation to seek solace in the romantic views that some well-intentioned people for other countries with have offered us of ourselves. Jung's comment just seems to me to fall into that category. It is intended as kindness, but nevertheless is a form of paddywhackery.
"...Jack Kennedy's 1960 election was a huge psychic boost for American Catholics -- he was the first and last Catholic elected president, remember -- but particularly for Irish Catholics. It was a step toward recovery from that vicious sense of inferiority and Irish self-loathing that's made worse by the fact that no one ever admits to it.
My Irish-American parents, just a few years removed from Brooklyn and the Bronx (and in my father's case, one generation from Ireland), worked hard to belong when we moved to the suburbs, to shed their working-class, ethnic roots. I remember my mother in the kitchen, obsessively transferring all food from cooking pots to serving dishes, because "only the shanty Irish eat from the pot." Bringing a pot to the table, even for seconds, would trigger a scolding. She had reason to worry: Our next door neighbor, a working-class first-generation Russian-American, called us "shanty Irish" whenever the grass got too long or the shingles needed painting. "Just like the niggers," he used to mutter...
"...I have always heard a strange double-meaning in the phrase "bottled up," as though it was inextricably, etymologically linked to alcoholism. It's the bottling of feeling that leads to the unbottling of alcohol, and to the morbid excesses of families like the Kennedys, and so many of the Irish. It took me more than a year after it won the Pulitzer to pick up Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes," and when I did I read it slowly, reluctantly, in pieces, because I couldn't stand it, it felt so close and real: The loss, the sorrow, the anger and the drunken, broken men.
Clearly there are millions of Irish-Americans who escape these patterns. But from the dirt-poor McCourts at the bottom to my up-from-working-class family in the middle to the Kennedys on high, something of the strangling, self-destructive Irish way of grief has kept its hold. To her credit, Jacqueline Kennedy, after encouraging the robotic, boys-don't-cry salute by John Jr., actually raised her children differently. There's the oft-told anecdote about how Bobby Kennedy told young John, after a ski-slope mishap, "Kennedys don't cry." His nephew retorted: "This Kennedy cries."..."
By the way, that 'self loathing' accusation resonates painfully with what I hear and read here in my new home in Palestine. Anybody over in Israel who displays the acumen, courage, insight or self-knowledge to even query the actions of the Israeli Army and their antics in the West Bank is instantly labelled 'a self-hating Jew' in the media. To me, it seems they are the people who really know and love their own culture and see it in the long context of history. Criticising your own should not automatically be read as a sign of self-loathing. It's just as likely a sign of self knowledge and, are I say it, love.
SWFL, top stuff! I think we sort of cross posted there, but I absolutely agree with what you have written. Our salvation is the future. Good to read your remarks. Hope all is well with you.
That's spot on SWFL. And yeah, what a thread diversion ...like two drunken uncles at a wedding talking about baseball results during the best man's speech. On that note, I'm about to crack a beer, pour a wee one over ice, put on the earphones and revisit Dylan's 'Blood on the Tracks' on a whim.
The Notre Dame logo, a figure of a fighting leprechaun, and their nickname, "The fightin' Irish", would both fall foul of racist laws in Britain, and yet you see people in Ireland, especially in the North, wearing these caps. Colonialism indeed. The inferiority complex compared to the English, hence dislike of them (the English dislike Germans for the same reason), and the lack of confidence, all stem from colonialism. I forget the name of the Kilkenny man who wrote the great book on the subject.
And in the US of A, and many other places, the Irish are stereotyped as hard drinking, romantic fighters. And unfortunately too many try to live up to it.
SWFL - the worst fight in our family's history occurred when my mother's mother said she was "lace-curtain Irish" and my father's mother said "Ya? You know what the difference between lace curtain Irish and Shanty Irish is? The lace curtain Irish move the dishes before they p!ss in the sink..." Self-loathing and "know yer feckin place!" all in one slagging.
Bliss - nothing romantic about Irish brawlers in America. This quote from a recent Law & Order TV episode;
"Italians and Puerto Ricans kill for love, but Jews and Irish kill for money..."
Good call BB, how could I forget Notre Dame? You know they select a mascot from the student body, one who can grow the requisite long red beard? He dances around at the games in the hat and suit with the shillelagh.
Jusa Nutter, it’s a sign of our condition that your father’s mother’s comment made me bust a gut laughing…
…but what’s up with the Law & Order writers? How does someone graduate film school and not watch the Godfather Trilogy? What the...?
oldstrings as much as I love coming here there are ocassions when I wish I actually knew less about some of the members.
Like what's up with the photo?
Keep the bios free!
I want to propose!
I want to propose!
a guideline for members to consider before posting a discussion.
Your bio should include (at least)
*The area in which you live.
*The instrument(s) you play.
*One other statement about yourself.
Perhaps this might help prevent misunderstandings and suspicion when totally unknown individuals make statements or ask questions. I have noted both happening recently.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by oldstrings
Re: I want to propose!
I'd like to add a further proposal if I may (sorry for the hijack, oldstrings!)
Before you criticise someone on this site for having a particular character trait, look deep in to your soul and ask yourself whether just possibly you might display that self same trait yourself some times...?
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by bc_box_player
Re: I want to propose!
Personally, I think we should each be required to hook an electrode up to a particularly sensitive body part each time we log on to this site. Then Jeremy would have the ultimate say over civility, and instant recourse whenever someone steps out of bounds.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Will CPT
Re: I want to propose!
Amen to all of the above. The bios on this site make for interesting reading, to be sure. Here's what drives me nuts, on the topic of civility-
A newcomer to the site, happy to find the Mustard, logs on and asks a question with the energy of a newbie...and is told by several posters to...
-do a search before asking a question, you fecking idjit!
-oh, no, not that question again!
-I hate bodhrans...
-I remember back in 1982 hearing-----play at------yadayadablablablabla etc.
I really like the electrode idea, CPT! But now I am dangerously close to violating my third rule, found on my bio, so I think I'll pour another glass of wine and resume lurking.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: I want to propose!
Come on Puddy Tat. You're setting yourself up for scrutiny there ag...........ghhhhhhhh.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... whoops forgot to look in on my own soul again Eno... smoulder............... oh well, I didnt need that reproductive organ anyway...
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by chuneboi slim
Re: I want to propose!
Let's take care of ourselves, rather than "should"-ing others about matters which are none of our business. The rules established by the site overseer for individual choice as to bios, personal data and other issues are there for a reason, and they seem to work very well.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by ceemonster
Re: I want to propose!
I agree that civility should be the code - but it is all too easy for the little devil on your shoulder to whisper in your ear.......and off you go on a rant. Maybe Jeremy could apply a spam filter to help all of us with this weakness. Any threads containing 'Braveheart', 'Titanic' etc could be diverted to a new site called 'the-session-lite' ......and lead us not into temptation.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by SeanMc
Re: I want to propose!
To return to the original point, I agree.
(This has been discussed before, but there's no harm in going round it again.
So often someone asks a question which could be answered so much more helpfully if people did as Oldstrings suggests.
1 - Where you live
(no need for detailed addresses)
People come on and ask "Where can I get help with ......." and the answer might be that I can help them if they live near me. But if they don't give any clues, how can I even know whether I can help?
2 - What you play
Of course.
When you are at a real session, folks can see what you play - it seems bizarre not to tell folks at a virtual session such as this.
3 - Something about yourself
Again, in a face to face conversation people know things about you because they can see you, and will behave differently with different individuals according to what they see. If you don't give a little about yourself in your bio, you are being discourteous to those to whom you are speaking.
PS - What? this old question again, why don't you people do a search before you ask? Look, we all hate bodhrans, I remember Mick McManus saying so when I saw him play in 1976 at . . . . . . .
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by showaddydadito
Re: I want to propose!
Here's the bracket I forgot in line 2 of the above.
)
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by showaddydadito
Re: I want to propose!
Or:
"Have we been introduced?"
Just revisited your bio, showaddydadito, and appreciate:
"Music is something we should do with each other, not to each other"
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by oldstrings
Re: I want to propose!
Look into my soul? Ah, soul...
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: I want to propose!
the most sensitive part of the body is .........The Eye!
True.
Anyway, I would further propose that people give at least a rough idea of their age bracket - particularly younger members. It's not the first time I have made some sarcastic remark to someone only to find out later they were 11 and a half years old or something. Big bully and plonker.
Also gender - but can understand why some people may not wish to divulge this.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by xyz
Re: I want to propose!
I'm a little girl aged 9¾ Danny, you bastard!
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: I want to propose!
ceemonster >Let's take care of ourselves, rather than "should"-ing others about matters which are none of our business.
I think oldstrings was just trying to offer guidelines to avoid misunderstandings. Otherwise I agree with you.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by xyz
Re: I want to propose!
You wish, Steve!
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by xyz
Re: I want to propose!
SteveS - that's very clever, doing "3/4" !
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by domnull
Re: I want to propose!
Agreed, I've just done that myself. Looking at Bill Campbell's 'Where to Start' thread I realized that without knowing the age of someone looking for advice it is not easy to comment. Giving pointers to a 14 year old is completely different to a 40 year old for example.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by bogman
Re: I want to propose!
I think it's a great idea oldstrings.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by anastasiadesroches
Re: I want to propose!
Why not explain these details in the question eg "I'm a banjo player from Kilmore Rd. 33 years old I'm Playing six months and I would like to know......................"
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Saint
Re: I want to propose!
Well, that's very nice of you, oldstrings, but I don't think I'm your type. We hardly know each other. Maybe after a little courting, perhaps.
Hear hear, this is a good idea, done, done and done. I went and revamped mine.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: I want to propose!
Same here. I gave clues about my age in case he wants to propose to me too.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by xyz
Re: I want to propose!
i just put in some details too.
my conscience was at me. guilt never sits on me well.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by person
Re: I want to propose!
Duke's Reel was a requested tune by person.
Is this the one?
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/5519
Please if you want people's history start reviewing their requests for tunes. You know ~ the exchange of tunes!
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Tonya
Re: I want to propose!
I'm sure technology exists for the electrode zapping that would occur should Jeremy deem comments too vulgar or hurtful. However, I fear I might be one of the first to beg "Don't taze me bro..!"
Old Strings, this is an excellent idea.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: I want to propose!
So, if we want civility from Key all we have to do is keep telling him we're 11 years old? Jeez, I wish I'd known that when I first stumbled onto this site. Hey key, I'm 11 years old...
I've thought long on this, to the bottom of this thread where I'm not typing away, and I can't think of where I'd necessarily talk down to someone because of their age, or up because they claim to be THE ONE of whatever. Civility has to be something given generally, and while I have slipped on my own snot, and will again I'm sure, I can't see standardization of the 'details' of members would change my approach to things. If I screw up, well, I put my hair shirt on and try and make restitution, if it is really called for.
Hey, would this mean we'd have to start treating foreigners differently? Damn! Pardon my French...
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: I want to propose!
LOL! SWFL - I think I still have the C.J.'s "Golden Shower of hits" cassette somewhere in my car! Nice bio update...;-D
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZHIGHT!!! ~ Who gave control of the zapping over to Key ~ OUCH!!! YOU'RE BURNING HAIR!!!
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: I want to propose!
Excellent Jusa Nutter! "Group Sex" was my favorite album of theirs. I think I still have the 12' vinyl somewhere. 30 something songs, the entire LP clocked it at under 20 minutes, I think. Ah yes, ye olde Punk Rock days...
Another quote for your bio?
"This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever."
- Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: I want to propose!
Or...
"If the Jews are God's 'Chosen People' then the Irish are God's 'Troubled People'." - Freud
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: I want to propose!
I always thought you were that age the way you carry on, Ceol.
Again, I think oldstrings is only making a suggestion.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by xyz
Re: I want to propose!
ceolachan you cannot just pretend to be 11 years old.
you have to change your user name too.
Duh!
OUUChChCh**ght!
Hmmm ~ not as bad as I thought.
Name , rank, & serial #
It's in the prisoner's rights statue or something.
ouch ~ ouch . . .
Keeeyyy stooppittt
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Tonya
Re: I want to propose!
Ceolachan, I agree you shouldn't change your approach with how you respond if it is helpful, or even a stern rebuke when warranted. The very first post I put up, was summarily ripped by Bodhran Bliss. And frankly who hasn't been E-slapped by Llig?
Yet most of the time I learn something from it. Even if it is served with a large chunk of Humble Pie on a sharp shingle.
SWFL - ya, that's a good one on Freudie..
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: I want to propose!
...or maybe it was "God's Special People"? I can't remember. Regardless, him being a wise-guy was the whole point.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: I want to propose!
It would be nice if everyone could be polite & introspective.
I have a love/hate relationship with all the distractions.
If you meet a stranger in a pub you might talk for hours & never get oldstrings details. There are mysteries for sure. But you can have a good discussion with a stranger. I crave that social interaction without protocol.
Misunderstanding will happen. It matters more what we do after we stumble. I propose everyone write your bios without preconditions. We can get to know you better with just a hint of mystery.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Tonya
Re: I want to propose!
Love yuh Tonya, whatever age you are...
Key: "I think oldstrings is only making a suggestion." ~ Duh?
Do you really trust someone who never changes their strings? Yuck!
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: I want to propose!
Now to try a wind-up, though I don't know if I should be anouncing it...
oldstrings: "I'm a Canadian (with no Celtic roots~" Now that figures, he's and 'American'...all that touchy feely stuff...
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!! Damn, now I've lost one, fried...
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: I want to propose!
Now I AM convinced you are eleven years old. If that....
or at least you wish you were
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by xyz
Re: I want to propose!
I agree absolutely with the original posting.
You don't have to be precise, just regional, in your self-description, and colourful embroidery of the truth adds interest, trying to figure out the sense and the nonsense.
I welcome any readers of my biog.
Which reminds me, someone asked me a question a few days ago and I haven't replied yet.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Guernsey Pete
Re: I want to propose!
I'm an 11 yearold cross-dressing androgyne. Seamus Tansey saves a special seat of honor for me at his pub sessions. I've played river rock percussion in West Ballifeckit for 41 years, and you can buy my tutorial DVD at http://www.bangyourrockstogether.com.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Will CPT
Re: I want to propose!
Haha! I wonder how many propositions the puddy tat will get now?
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by morning star
Re: I want to propose!
Yeah, that's the problem... You're assuming that everyone would be honest in their profile. That's a bad assumption, methinks.
Part of the issue is that people often have a sense of anonymity in online communities. This allows them to appear as something that they're not. Lke, I dunno... an expert on Irish music, for instance. I probably come across like that from time to time myself, although, I generally try to couch my answers as being my own opinion... My profile is honest, and at least somewhat informative. But then you get into the issues of privacy in this world that is full of sickos, who might just be lurking...
Pete
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Reverend
Re: I want to propose!
Hey puddy tat, your link is dead...
Then there's the witness protection act. I've got fiberglass shoed hit folk out lookin' to flatten my nose. I have to keep anonymous or risk scuff marks and bruises all over my body, far worse than cowboys and spurs... Besides, someone might see me in my Wild Bill outfit, or wearing my Daniel Boon coon skin cap and deer skins... Then I'd also have to worry about the granola bars on site, who, I might say, haven't yet confessed by adding that information into their 'details'. I think if we're going to be detailed then food preferences should be listed ~ ~ ~ and drink...
It this not more important than geography or genetics?
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by ceolachan
I'd be more worried about what I was saying in the presence of say a 'granola bar', worried about hurting someone's feelings unintentionally, or someone in the National Front, worried for my own health than anything ageist...
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: I want to propose!
That quote posted above about the Irish being 'immune' to the probing powers of psychoanalysis is wrongly attributed to Freud. I believe it was Jung who supposedly came out with that, possibly as a result of his conversations with James Joyce and his schizophrenic daughter. Even then, it was probably an affectionate, roundabout way that Jung had of paying a compliment to Joyce himself and his powers of invention and understanging of mythological archetypes, rather than a real assessment of the Irish in general. By encouraging them to believe that they are somehow marvellous, magical Celts, it strikes me as precisely the sort of comment that is likely to encourage certain sections of Irish society to persist in narcissistic delusions rather than grow to a painful recognition of themselves in all their flawed reality.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by sergeant fox
Re: I want to propose!
How odd of God
To choose the Jews...
How could he fail
To hail the Gael?
And old joke from home.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by sergeant fox
Re: I want to propose!
Whew. Well, as the Irish are so good at beating themselves up as well as completely trashing any of their number who dare to be flashy or show any ego whatsoever, I think a little self-importance is a good thing.
I mean, have you ever seen such self-loathing? We hate anyone who dares to be different, or to excel. What's the most important thing about growing up Irish-American?
"DON'T GET A BIG HEAD, ya jerk! What makes you think you're so special?"
A little 'unique' isn't going to hurt anybody.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: I want to propose!
Tonya:
Certainly, meeting someone in person is far different from any kind of correspondence.
As Key Maniac Lad said, it was only a suggestion, perhaps applicable to this site.
Remember also: 1 picture = 1,000 words.
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/15454
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by oldstrings
Re: I want to propose!
Sorry, wrong link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentac/379222344/
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by oldstrings
Re: I want to propose!
Damned oroboros... Thanks for the reminder ol'string, that picture always gives me hope, that despite the belly beer grows we can still aspire to great sweat...
And, it's OK to be blad... Isn't it? 
So, where's your picture ol'string?
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: I want to propose!
By the way, I love your details, choosing to ignore punctuation and reading this bit so ~
" ~ and my Irish Water Spaniel named Guinness who was deeply involved in the British Folksong Revival (the 60's/70's one) before discovering dance tunes..."
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: I want to propose!
What's the self-loathing you refer to , SWFL? Surely that remark is not linked to my comment above? I take a great, sustaining pride and joy out of my country, my compatriots past and present, and have always chuckled fondly at that Jung comment. But as classic victims of colonialism it strikes me that we Irish have never truly adjusted or recovered from the experience. Sure, we're getting there, but we have a distance to travel yet. The awful self-denigrating, sick self-image that many Irish people had of themselves right up till the 1970s seems to me to be increasingly replaced by an inflated and dubious new image that his little to do with Irish peoples current circumstances and a whole lot to do with marketing imperatives. I honestly believe that Ireland as a whole has largely moved out of the shadow of colonialism. The current low-point in the Troubles in the north is edifying evidence of that. But we are a long way from being pronounced completely cured. During the hardest times of Irish history over the last fifty odd years there was always a temptation to seek solace in the romantic views that some well-intentioned people for other countries with have offered us of ourselves. Jung's comment just seems to me to fall into that category. It is intended as kindness, but nevertheless is a form of paddywhackery.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by sergeant fox
Re: I want to propose!
Like this, Sarge:
"...Jack Kennedy's 1960 election was a huge psychic boost for American Catholics -- he was the first and last Catholic elected president, remember -- but particularly for Irish Catholics. It was a step toward recovery from that vicious sense of inferiority and Irish self-loathing that's made worse by the fact that no one ever admits to it.
My Irish-American parents, just a few years removed from Brooklyn and the Bronx (and in my father's case, one generation from Ireland), worked hard to belong when we moved to the suburbs, to shed their working-class, ethnic roots. I remember my mother in the kitchen, obsessively transferring all food from cooking pots to serving dishes, because "only the shanty Irish eat from the pot." Bringing a pot to the table, even for seconds, would trigger a scolding. She had reason to worry: Our next door neighbor, a working-class first-generation Russian-American, called us "shanty Irish" whenever the grass got too long or the shingles needed painting. "Just like the niggers," he used to mutter...
http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/1999/07/22/grief/index.html
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: I want to propose!
[This is a great article, link in above post]
"...I have always heard a strange double-meaning in the phrase "bottled up," as though it was inextricably, etymologically linked to alcoholism. It's the bottling of feeling that leads to the unbottling of alcohol, and to the morbid excesses of families like the Kennedys, and so many of the Irish. It took me more than a year after it won the Pulitzer to pick up Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes," and when I did I read it slowly, reluctantly, in pieces, because I couldn't stand it, it felt so close and real: The loss, the sorrow, the anger and the drunken, broken men.
Clearly there are millions of Irish-Americans who escape these patterns. But from the dirt-poor McCourts at the bottom to my up-from-working-class family in the middle to the Kennedys on high, something of the strangling, self-destructive Irish way of grief has kept its hold. To her credit, Jacqueline Kennedy, after encouraging the robotic, boys-don't-cry salute by John Jr., actually raised her children differently. There's the oft-told anecdote about how Bobby Kennedy told young John, after a ski-slope mishap, "Kennedys don't cry." His nephew retorted: "This Kennedy cries."..."
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: I want to propose!
By the way, that 'self loathing' accusation resonates painfully with what I hear and read here in my new home in Palestine. Anybody over in Israel who displays the acumen, courage, insight or self-knowledge to even query the actions of the Israeli Army and their antics in the West Bank is instantly labelled 'a self-hating Jew' in the media. To me, it seems they are the people who really know and love their own culture and see it in the long context of history. Criticising your own should not automatically be read as a sign of self-loathing. It's just as likely a sign of self knowledge and, are I say it, love.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by sergeant fox
Re: I want to propose!
SWFL, top stuff! I think we sort of cross posted there, but I absolutely agree with what you have written. Our salvation is the future. Good to read your remarks. Hope all is well with you.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by sergeant fox
Re: I want to propose!
It certainly does, Sarge. Hear hear.
This has always amused me:
You see Paddy in his leprecaun outfit selling cereal, or cartoons of Paddies adorning more 'modest' American pubs, etc.
Could you imagine a kosher deli with a cartoon of a rabbi on it?
How about a Chinese food place with a cartoonish-looking Chinese "coolie" on the front of the building? A dry cleaner? "No shirtee, no tickee!" etc.?
I like to think we're either so advanced that we don't let it bother us like others would, or, again, it's a manifestation of the self-loathing.
"Eh, yup, that's me. Drunken paddy, hardee har har. Where's the pub?[hiccup]"
Like so many complex things in life, I think it's both.
Now, talk about an off-track thread, whew. (HA!)
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: I want to propose!
Regarding the thread: I like oldstrings' proposal, and I also kinda like bodhrans! That's my two cents.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by PatrickJWK
Re: I want to propose!
That's spot on SWFL. And yeah, what a thread diversion ...like two drunken uncles at a wedding talking about baseball results during the best man's speech. On that note, I'm about to crack a beer, pour a wee one over ice, put on the earphones and revisit Dylan's 'Blood on the Tracks' on a whim.
Good luck sir.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by sergeant fox
Re: I want to propose!
You too Sergeant! Well met, enjoy.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: I want to propose!
The Notre Dame logo, a figure of a fighting leprechaun, and their nickname, "The fightin' Irish", would both fall foul of racist laws in Britain, and yet you see people in Ireland, especially in the North, wearing these caps. Colonialism indeed. The inferiority complex compared to the English, hence dislike of them (the English dislike Germans for the same reason), and the lack of confidence, all stem from colonialism. I forget the name of the Kilkenny man who wrote the great book on the subject.
And in the US of A, and many other places, the Irish are stereotyped as hard drinking, romantic fighters. And unfortunately too many try to live up to it.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by bodhran bliss
Re: I want to propose!
SWFL - the worst fight in our family's history occurred when my mother's mother said she was "lace-curtain Irish" and my father's mother said "Ya? You know what the difference between lace curtain Irish and Shanty Irish is? The lace curtain Irish move the dishes before they p!ss in the sink..." Self-loathing and "know yer feckin place!" all in one slagging.
Bliss - nothing romantic about Irish brawlers in America. This quote from a recent Law & Order TV episode;
"Italians and Puerto Ricans kill for love, but Jews and Irish kill for money..."
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: I want to propose!
That's all right then.
How much money, just as a matter of interest?
# Posted on October 12th 2007 by bodhran bliss
Re: I want to propose!
Greetings:
Good idea, but I would have to support the electrode idea, as well.
Anyway, as a result of your post, I finally wrote an intro.
# Posted on October 12th 2007 by cathrynb
Re: I want to propose!
Yes, ceolachan, as a matter of fact my dog DOES dance and sing. You godda problem wid dat?
# Posted on October 12th 2007 by oldstrings
Re: I want to propose!
My bio is empty for a specific reason.
If you wish to know more about me, email me.
# Posted on October 12th 2007 by jig
Re: I want to propose!
Which of your bios would that be then?
# Posted on October 12th 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: I want to propose!
Good call BB, how could I forget Notre Dame? You know they select a mascot from the student body, one who can grow the requisite long red beard? He dances around at the games in the hat and suit with the shillelagh.
Jusa Nutter, it’s a sign of our condition that your father’s mother’s comment made me bust a gut laughing…
…but what’s up with the Law & Order writers? How does someone graduate film school and not watch the Godfather Trilogy? What the...?
# Posted on October 12th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: I want to propose!
Best bit of mandolin playing as well as best films.
# Posted on October 12th 2007 by bodhran bliss
Re: I want to propose!
oldstrings as much as I love coming here there are ocassions when I wish I actually knew less about some of the members.
Like what's up with the photo?
Keep the bios free!
# Posted on October 14th 2007 by Tonya